Not that we needed more evidence, but a new map shows that the NYPD’s Stop-and-Frisk tactic is race-based and ineffective in getting actual criminal off the streets. How can we enact real change in the way our communities are policed?

According to a recent study by Stanford University’s Center for Education Policy Analysis, white students were five times as likely as black students to enroll at a top-tier university, and two-three times as likely to gain admission.

Rhymefest on executive producing THE PLEDGE Mixtape: “Hip Hop can be used as a tool or a weapon, and I wanted to inspire more artists to use it as a tool.” The Pledge Mixtape is a 13-song compilation of various artists taking back their communal power through music.

According to a new Gallup poll, confidence in America’s public school system as hit an all-time low. Only 29 percent of respondents expressed a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in public education. How can fix this broken system?

A new registry jointly compiled by the University of Michigan and Northwestern University Law Schools conveys that over 2,000 prisoners have been wrongly convicted of serious crimes since 1989. Tellingly, more than half of them are black.

US District Judge Shira Sheindlin of Manhattan has granted class action status to a 2008 lawsuit accusing the NYPD of discriminating against blacks and Hispanics with its “Stop and Frisk” program. Do you agree with the judge’s decision?

According to a new report, juveniles sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole are subject to socioeconomic and racial disparities, corrections policies that inhibit rehabilitation, and harsher punishments than comparable adults. Is this JUSTICE?

Over 100 students at Detroit’s Western International High School have been suspended from school after staging a walkout in protest of what they feel has been a poor educational experience. In response they’ve started their own school – dubbed a “Freedom School” – to attend instead.

According to a scathing report released yesterday by the Justice Department, the Memphis and Shelby County juvenile justice system routinely treats black youth more harshly than their white counterparts. How do we fight the institutional racism that continues to criminalize and demonize our youth?

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Why take the pledge?

Far too many Black youth continue to be demonized, criminalized and murdered.

Enough is enough!

In response to this intensifying crisis, the Black Youth Project (BYP) has launched “The Pledge.”

With “The Pledge,” we are asking individuals and organizations to close ranks around black youth and make a commitment to take action and fight with black youth as they confront a relentless crisis. We at the BYP believe that each person can make a difference by doing something!

By taking The Pledge we not only articulate our concern about black youth, but symbolically unite our voices with others who will work to confront this crisis.

If we each take action, whether it is starting a group, signing a petition, or mentoring a young person in your neighborhood, then we all become a part of the solution.